Kidnappers of Lagos fire director, others yet to contact families 48 hours after

• Police keep mum, to brief state government today on update
• CDHR condemns rising level of insecurity in Lagos

The refusal of the gunmen who kidnapped the acting director of Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Musibau and six others, to establish contact with families of the victims 48 hours after their abduction is causing anxiety and disquiet among relations and Lagos State government officials.Gunmen had abducted Musibau and six others along Iwoye bridge, Itokin-Epe road, on Saturday at about 8:00p.m. Others abducted include Mufutau Adams, Funmilayo Adelumo, Asiogu Martha, Lasisi Muka and two others yet to be identified.

It was gathered yesterday that the kidnappers were yet to establish contact with families of the victims and the situation is causing ripples, anxiety and fear among relatives.Sources said the Fire Service director was on his way to Epe from Ikorodu when he was kidnapped. He was said to be driving himself to Epe when he ran into the kidnappers. The kidnappers broke the windscreen of his Sienna vehicle and dragged him out, leaving his phones behind.

According to a government source, there is anxiety among government officials as the fire service boss is loved by all, while civil servants are calling for prayers so that the kidnappers would release him and others.However, the Lagos State government is yet to issue a statement 48 hours since the director and others were kidnapped and civil servants are agitating that the government should do everything possible and urgently to ensure that Musibau and others are released.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kehinde Bamigbetan, when contacted, said the Commissioner of Police was on top of the matter. He refused to disclose whether the kidnappers had established contact with the families of the victims or not. He said the police boss would officially brief the state government on Tuesday (today) and that the issue at hand was that of security, which would not warrant him to give details.

But a family source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the kidnappers have contacted the family and demanded an undisclosed amount of money as ransom. The police in Lagos are yet to obtain a clue though on the kidnappers.When contacted, the Lagos police command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Bala Elkana, said: “We have deployed our tactical unit to go after the hoodlums, but I don’t want to pre-empt whatever they are doing. What I know is that we have deployed our men to rescue the victims.”

A senior police officer at the command headquarters in Ikeja who pleaded for anonymity, said the command has contacted the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) to assist in tracking the kidnappers.“As we speak, we have no clue yet on the whereabouts of the kidnappers and their victims. We have contacted IRT to assist us. Whether the kidnappers have contacted the family, the police are not aware. We have not been briefed.”

Kidnappers had on Saturday stormed the Iwoye Bridge at about 8:00p.m. and stopped vehicles conveying the victims, ordering them to alight from their vehicles before they were whisked away to an unknown destination.Residents said the axis had become the new den for kidnappers lately after abducting some community leaders and council officials. There has been the resurgence in banditry, killings and other vices in Lagos metropolis.

Meanwhile, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has lamented the recent incidences of killings of citizens in Lagos. According to the group, the number of police extrajudicial killings and murders by criminal gangs in Lagos within the last few weeks has raised the concern of CDHR on the security of lives of citizens.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Henry Peter Ekine, the committee condemned the attack on Dr. Stephen Urueye by assailants on April 4, at the Idi Araba area leading to his death the next day, coming two days after his convocation at the University of Lagos barely a few days after the incidence of extrajudicial murder of Kolade Johnson by errant Inspector Ogunyemi Olalekan at Mangoro/Onipetesi area on March 31.